Meet Zach Sutton | Commercial Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Zach Sutton and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Zach, what role has risk played in your life or career?
I’ve always been a bit of a risk taker, from being a licensed skydiver to being an active motorcyclist here in Los Angeles. But in terms of my career, the biggest risk (and reward) I’ve taken is to get out of my comfort zone. I’m from Michigan originally and was building my photography business and branding while in college. After college, I felt like I was stagnant – living just a dozen or so miles from where I was born. I was comfortable in how much my photography business was making, but was deeply uncomfortable with the impact it was making. So I did the Jack Kerouac thing, and got into a big truck, and drove across the country, looking for my next opportunity. I ended up spending three years in New Mexico, where I felt I really grew as a person, and in my ambitions. And once I felt that comfortability of my career creep in, I moved again – this time, to Los Angeles. I’ve had brief moments where I’ve felt that comfortability creep back in, But LA keeps you fresh. It would have been way easier to build my business in Michigan, or Albuquerque and live out my life keeping a steady income. But the risks I’ve taken have offered me so many more successes in my career, and my growth as a business owner and person overall.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m a commercial beauty and skincare photographer focusing on product photography and product-on-model. For me, my photography comes from two loves – connecting with people, and experimenting with lighting – and I’m grateful to have a career where I can do both of those. I brought my focus into beauty photography several years ago, after wanting to revamp all of my portfolios on my website. At the time, my website was very much built on the premise of “Jack of all trades” – from lifestyle portraiture to headshots, to even some automotive photography. My beauty portfolio was the weakest of them all, and I used that as an opportunity to rebuild it from the ground up, and eventually really fell in love with the people I got to work with, and the opportunities the work was presenting to me. So here I am either or nine years later, still constantly rebuilding that beauty portfolio.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I absolutely love hosting and showing people around LA, so this type of question is right in my wheelhouse. Los Angeles is certainly way too big to conquer in a weekend, so building a good itinerary starts with a baseline as to what they want to see. If they are into the beach and culture vibes. I like taking people to Venice Beach to show them the skatepark, muscle beach, and basketball courts. In the late eighties and into the early nineties, that was a hot bed of incredible cultures happening all at once – from Tony Hawk becoming the greatest skateboarder of all time, to the foundation of the And1 streetball culture, to Arnold taking the bodybuilding world by storm. It was all happening just a few hundred feet from each other, and I find that fascinating. From there, you take them to Malibu to show them a more scenic beach. That’s just one specific idea for a quick itinerary.

Another hidden gem in LA, and one of my favorite places ever is the Huntington Library in Pasadena.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I have so many people I’d want to shout out in something like this. Certainly my parents for imprinting the “You can be whatever you want to be” mantra into my brain. When I was starting out as a photographer, a local photographer named Bill Strome gave me access to his personal studio and lighting equipment, which really helped me understand how to light people, places and things through experimenting. There have been so many brands that have put their trust into me, from brands that endorse me like Profoto and Tether Tools, to brands and organizations that put faith in me for my knowledge, my workshops, and my dedication.

Website: https://zsuttonphoto.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/zsuttonphoto

Image Credits
photo – @zsuttonphoto